Tiffany glass lamp shades are well known and traditionally include a fine mosaic of stained glass patterned portions separated from one another by leaded portions. The lamp shades are particularly beautiful and the original forms produced by Tiffany exhibit especially attractive color effects.
The traditional method for fabricating Tiffany lamp shades included providing a wooden form conforming to the shape of the lamp shade. A thin paper or linen is then adhesively attached to the form, conforming to the curved surface of the form, and the artist then makes a line drawing of the desired design. The lines of the drawing defined a multiplicity of areas of different sizes and shapes in which correspondingly sized and shaped pieces of stained glass are to occupy in the completed design.
The paper or linen is then stripped off the form, cut apart along enough of the pattern lines to lay flat, and the various areas are numbered. A copy is made by tracing and is then reproduced and copies used for reference purposes. The original copy is cut into patterns to be used in cutting different colored pieces of stained glass into corresponding shapes and sizes. The surface of the form is then coated with an appropriate pressure-sensitive adhesive wax, and the glass pieces are then adhesively attached to the surface of the form using the copy of the drawing as a reference.
The stained glass pieces are then independently removed from the form, framed with adhesive-backed copper foil, and then replaced. The pieces are then soldered together using the copper foil as a base for the solder.
The form is then heated to a temperature sufficient to melt the adhesive wax so as to permit the resulting lamp shade to be lifted off the form. The soldering process is then repeated for the interior of the lamp shade. Upper and lower metal rims are then soldered to the assembly. The lamp shade may then be finished by electroplating copper over the solder surfaces, and by patinating the resulting copper surfaces.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide an improved method for making Tiffany-type lamp shades as compared with the traditional method described above, and to provide a kit to enable such lamp shades to be made with relative ease and without the need for any special skills or special artistic talent.